Ponente
Descripción
The identification of molecular clouds associated with supernova remnants (SNRs) is crucial for understanding the origin of Galactic cosmic rays and for quantifying the energy of cosmic ray protons. RCW 103 is a shell-type SNR with a bright radio continuum and thermal-dominated X-rays. The detection of GeV and TeV gamma-rays suggests that it is a promising site for the acceleration of cosmic ray protons. However, although the association of molecular clouds has been suggested through a few CO line observations near the shell, their total mass and spatial distribution were not well understood (Paron et al. 2006). We carried out a study of the interstellar medium (ISM) toward RCW 103 using Mopra CO($J$=1–0) and ATCA & Parkes HI data. We found that CO clouds at $V_{\mathrm{LSR}}\sim-58.7–-43.5$ km s$^{-1}$ show a good spatial correspondence with the X-ray shell, particularly extending from the northwest to the southeast. The expanding motion of the clouds with $\Delta$$V\sim$7.5 km s$^{-1}$ was formed by shock waves and/or winds from the progenitor system. Additionally, the total energy of cosmic rays Wp is estimated to be $\sim2.8\times10^{47}$ erg by adopting the number density of total interstellar protons $n_{\mathrm{p}}$ of $\sim840$ cm$^{-3}$. This value is more than an order of magnitude lower than the energy predicted for other gamma-ray SNRs. Based on these findings, this presentation will discuss the origins of cosmic ray acceleration and thermal plasma in RCW 103.
